I just received my new Pentax K1 (and grip) on Monday. I am really busy with work right now but I hope to have time over the Memorial holiday to really put it through its paces. I have the legendary 31mm Limited that I hope will pair nicely with it. Extremely high first impression though.

Have fun with the K-1. From what I heard the FA 31/1.8 Ltd. lives up to its reputation on the K-1.
It seems that the best positive surprise is the FA 43/1.9 Ltd. There was less love for it on APS-C, but on the K-1 the rendering looks way better.
The FA 77/1.8 Ltd. should also be as good as ever.
I hope you will try the 43 and the 77 as well - the K-1 is the right camera for these three lenses.

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

Our purpose is getting to an impressive photograph. So we encourage browsing and then feedback. Consider a link to your galleries annotated, C&C welcomed. Images posted within OPF are assumed to be for Comment & Critique, unless otherwise designated.

I just received my new Pentax K1 (and grip) on Monday. I am really busy with work right now but I hope to have time over the Memorial holiday to really put it through its paces. I have the legendary 31mm Limited that I hope will pair nicely with it. Extremely high first impression though.

So - did you have time?

Best regards,
Michael

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

Sorry I didn't get back to everyone sooner, the Friday before Memorial Day I got up on my roof to get my swamp cooler fired up for the season and completely threw my back out picking up a heavy vacuum. I was down for about a week and subsequently didn't get to do much at all that weekend as I had hoped.

I have since had a chance to escape for a few days and do some outdoor shooting, and while I still want (and need) to do some more post-processing of my images I do have a few immediate impressions:

1. Focusing is much much faster than I anticipated, I am using screw-drive lenses without HSM and they are nearly instantaneous. I can only base this on my lenses which are mostly smaller primes, so I cannot comment as to whether it is just as fast with older and/or larger zooms. I would expect with the new HSM lenses it would be phenomenally fast.

2. High ISO performance is also exceptional, I typically shoot low ISOs since I have a really bad tendency towards pixel-peeping and I try to not to exceed 200 ISO when possible. With the K1 up to 800 ISO actually satisfies most of my pixel-peeping, and up to 3200 I would find usable in many situations. This was my biggest surprise. I'm sure less fussy users would be surprised at even higher ISOs.

3. Ergonomics are also great, I have the optional battery grip on mine due to having very large hands and I absolutely love the feel and layout. Solidly built and great controls.

4. The detail and dynamic range are also better than I expected, as I find some time to process more of my images and play with them a little more in Lightroom I will be able to better comment on these two topics, but at first glance they both appear absolutely phenomenal. I assume the increase in detail is due to the removal of the AA filter, which is of little use to me given the type of photography I do. I have not even tried using the AA filter simulator.

5. I really want to try out the Pixel Shift feature but whenever I've had some time to it has been too windy to use it, I am hoping to get out this weekend and find a good place to try it.

Keep in mind most of what I shoot is outdoor/landscape photography (and a little wildlife as well) and I use smaller prime lenses, so all of the above comments are based on that type of photography. I do not do much if any sports/action or studio shooting, so my results and experiences with this camera do not reflect any challenges or issues that might be encountered when shooting in those situations.

My overall impressions are very high at this time and I love this camera, so unless I find some major issue down the road I would rank this as a 10 out of 10.

Our purpose is getting to an impressive photograph. So we encourage browsing and then feedback. Consider a link to your galleries annotated, C&C welcomed. Images posted within OPF are assumed to be for Comment & Critique, unless otherwise designated.

I hope you'll post some images up soon, I really do like what Pentax have done here...

__________________http://paulyrichard.wordpress.com/ "In fact I don't believe there is such a thing as a definitive picture of something. The land is a living, breathing thing and light changes its character every second of every day." - Fay Godwin "All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice." - Elliott Erwitt

More examples here. 1-3 using the FA 43, 4-6 using the Tamron 28-75/2.8.

Best regards,
Michael

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

Our purpose is getting to an impressive photograph. So we encourage browsing and then feedback. Consider a link to your galleries annotated, C&C welcomed. Images posted within OPF are assumed to be for Comment & Critique, unless otherwise designated.

What's your impression and guidance to the rest of us on the social value of this Camera?

Strange question - social value of a camera?
Well - the K-1 is certainly not a Veblen good - no one will brag about it.

Strong points for me are image quality, ease of use and from what I could experience it seems to be a dependable camera.
The two additional wheels reduce further the need to access the menu. The smaller LCD screen compared to e.g. the K-3 is a bit of a let-down. The led-lights illuminating the card slot and the bayonet help when it's dark,

Any news from Kyle? He should have some pictures by now...

Best regards,
Michael

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

Do you have anything from the last 2 1/2 months you deem worthy showing here?

Best regards,
Michael

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.

Is there anything you would like to show? After 3 1/2 months there should be something worth showing.

Best regards,
Michael

__________________I do not call myself an artist, I just try to capture what I see.
If you need many words to describe what your picture means, it doesn't speak enough for itself.
my photos on flickr - here is the portion posted in OPF.